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According to a report from Japanese publication Nikkei Net, Nintendo's New Super Mario Bros. Wii has now sold 10 million copies worldwide. The game needed only 45 days to pass the already impressive sales numbers of Super Mario Galaxy. Quoting Gamasutra:
"NSMB Wii has sold 3 million units in Japan, where it launched on December 3; 3 million copies in Europe, where it launched November 20, and 4.5 million units in North America, where it launched November 15. Super Mario Galaxy has sold 4.1 million units in North America since 2007. The game's design hearkens back to the two-dimensional, side-scrolling style of earlier Mario titles ... The numbers would seem to suggest that these traits successfully generated more mass appeal for NSMB Wii than for the three-dimensional and far less familiar Super Mario Galaxy, which sent the plumber navigating more innovative spherical space environments."

I like how they mapped it like the old style Nintendo controller as well.

Indeed! The Wiimote was laid out the way it is specifically to accommodate that kind of controller layout, which is quite handy. Honestly though, I think it was done so, though, to allow play of $5-a-pop virtual console (read: buy me again:-P) titles.

I am aware of that. But TVs display PC video just as easily as console video, as long as the right cable [pineight.com] is between the two. A VGA-to-composite adapter for a PC is no more expensive than an official component cable for a console. If the problem is that the TV and the PC are in separate rooms, Acer Aspire Revo and other nettop PCs with an NVIDIA chipset solve that handily. So why aren't PC games designed to use TVs?

PCs are usually set up for one person at a desk. They don't come with any controllers or other gaming niceties, so typically gamers customize them in very one-player-specific ways.

Consoles fit in with the "entertainment area" of homes where there's a lot of seating so everyone can view the television. That environment lends itself to being shared by the gaming system which has lots of cheap-to-add controllers.

As does a suitably installed Acer Aspire Revo or any of several home theater PCs. So why aren't video games designed to take advantage of home theater PCs?

Because no one does that. Seriously, there are what, 25,000,000 Wiis sold in the North American market? I'd be shocked if there were 150,000 Home Theater PCs properly installed and powerful enough for gaming on the continent.

Even if it is a million, its an embarrassingly small market. Its the same reason you don't see boxed Linux distributions at Best Buy.

So what should an indie developer with a concept for a video game for multiple players on one screen, and possibly even a proof of concept implementation for home theater PCs, do in order to grow to meet Nintendo's requirements [warioworld.com] for a WiiWare license? This includes having "relevant video game industry experience" and affording a "secure office facility".

So what should an indie developer with a concept for a video game for multiple players on one screen, and possibly even a proof of concept implementation for home theater PCs, do in order to grow to meet Nintendo's requirements for a WiiWare license? This includes having "relevant video game industry experience" and affording a "secure office facility".

I'm not sure, it's a tough question. I'd love to see PC gaming flourish in that area -- I'm not antagonistic to the idea of home theater PC's, though my original post may have come off a bit mocking in nature. I was more just pointing out the current reality.

I think a good start would be a standardized HTPC implementation, so you don't run into the configuration/settings/"will my machine run it and at what quality" nightmare that PC gaming is for non-technical users.

Who said PC game controllers have to be keyboards and mice? They could be Logitech USB gamepads, or they could be Xbox 360 gamepads.

TVs have PC inputs nowadays.

all crowded around a single monitor

I play video games on a 32" monitor made by Vizio. Say I have a Wii, three Wii Remotes, an Acer Aspire Revo (Wii-size PC), and three PC gamepads. What makes New Super Mario Bros. Wii or any other Wii game played around this monitor any less crowded than a comparable PC game played around the same monitor?

I, for one, like PC games over console games due to the ability to customize the keyboard/mouse.

True, but is it worth spending hundreds of dollars per player? For a keyboard and mouse game, players 2 through 4 need a separate PC, video card, monitor, speakers, keyboard, mouse, and copy of each game, and that adds up to cost a lot more than a Wii Remote and Nunchuk.

Really? I have found the multiplayer is next to impossible. You just end killing each other. The more players you have the harder the game becomes, even when your not trying to do each other in. If you try t kill each other, its hard to get anything done.

And if you like slapstick humor or playing Dwarf Fortress(losing is fun!), you'll love it.

The first time I played it solo, I found it kind of meh; but the first time I played 4 player, we played until the wee hours of the morning in the middle of the week and then set up a schedule to do it again when it wasn't a work night.

I suppose after the 8th or 9th time it might get a bit boring, but we played one level(the death cloud) for an hour and we didn't get sick of screwing up.

it depends on who you play with.. there are friends i play hockey with (screw the puck i wanna put as many people as i can through the glass) and there are the people who are actually trying. sadly, the break everyone on the other team method is the one game where that sort of person excels at hockey! halo just makes me give him the humidor and lock him outside till we're done.

You're missing the point. I don't even think we're past the sand world.

It has to be one of the last times I can remember actually falling out of my chair laughing because of what was going on. I don't know if it was the picking up of people or shaking the controller or picking people up and shaking or just random other interactions that you never could make an AI do.

All of us grew up with the original NES. I remember when SMB3 came out and spending time at a friend's house trying to beat it.

Yes. I didn't buy the claim that this was the hardest mario yet. I finished it with tons of lives left by myself. Add 3 friends to the mix, 1 of whom is drunk and another who isn't terribly good at these kinds of games and you've got a gong show.I spent most of the time carrying around the person wasn't that good and avoiding the drunk guy as he inevitably bounced us all into death.

Really? I have found the multiplayer is next to impossible. You just end killing each other. The more players you have the harder the game becomes, even when your not trying to do each other in. If you try t kill each other, its hard to get anything done.

This is what makes the game incredible, in my opinion. As a single player game, it's a really good remake of the original Super Mario Brothers. Every time you add another player, it becomes a slightly more diabolical party game. By the time you're made it t

I was playing this game with my girlfriend's kid & having trouble getting thru one of the levels. He told me to grab a fireflower, picked me up & told me to just start shooting. He then completed the level while I was playing "gunner". Also, if player 2 or 3 knocks you into a pit accidentally, you can hit A to get into your floaty bubble so you don't die.

Dunno man, I'm a huge zelda fan and I actually enjoy the 3D scenarios and things. I would love the game to last longer though, twilight princess seemed short compared to OoT or LttP. Plus I'm a dork and I love watching Link fully rendered;)

They already made that game [wikipedia.org], and it was glorious, but noone seemed to notice. Its a pain finding 4 GBAs + link cables, but totally worth it, the adventure mode was a blast, and the deathmatch was everything you could hope for in a versus mode zelda game.

Now I hope they'll give us a high-resolution, all-new, top-down Zelda game in the caliber of Link to the Past and Link's Awakening.

I've just read about a PS3 game called "3D Dot Game Heroes: Pixilated Parody [google.com]" or something that's suppose to basically be an original Zelda rip-off but in that "look, we're appreciating retro games" kind of way. However, it's in 3D, maybe partly in 2D, but the screen shoots looked pretty good. It was in Game Informer an issue or two ago.

It is a fucking game, I am supposed to enjoy my time while playing it.

If only there were more people like you in game development and design.

I simply don't buy games anymore for several reasons, aside from the asinine price tags, but one sticks out most above all: I shouldn't be punished because I suck.

A very large number of games that I've tried lately have punished me for failure. I won't go deep into details about this one or that one, but the latest Wolfenstein title comes to mind as the last one I played for about an hour and then quit. My "allies" and I were siegi

Your concept of "game" is foreign to me. A game is a contest with rules. You play by discovering/learning/developing the ability to win the contest within the rules. An activity that lets you progress without challenge or accomplishment isn't a game.

I am playing through New Super Mario Bros myself and while I appreciate the ease with which I can advance without ever losing, it does detract from the sense of accomplishment.

I concur 50 times over. Twilight Princess would still easily be the best Wii title I've played to date, even if it didn't include the horseback battle (which in and of itself, would rocket any title that included it to the top of my list).

For what it's worth, it's probably also one of the most visually appealing games on the Wii. Although the Wii is definitely an underpowered system, the fantastic art direction on the game makes it outshine most PS3/360 games I've seen to date. (If you've played any of t

Not overly milking the core Mario franchise like Sega did with a certain hedgehog. In four or so years Sega puked out 7 similar Sonic games while Nintendo now have 8 since 1985 (Mario 1,2,3, World, Land, Land 2, New SMB and new SMB Wii)

There has been a few misses (like Mario is missing) but overall Mario is a quality stamp and I think that's the reason why Mario Wii can see this well now.

You missed Mario 64, Mario Galaxy, Mario Sunshine and Paper Mario, not even counting the various Mario games for the various GameBoys, Mario Kart, Mario Party and the Olympics.You think, there's not many Mario games out the last few years? Think again: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Mario_games_by_year

It's hard to say. Mario 64 is/was the definitive game that showed that 3D games could work. For the time it was spectacular and a great deal of the 3D platformer game conventions we take for granted today came from Mario. So, it's a great game but it's been a long time since it came out and time ages 3D poorly. So, how good are you at playing older tech?

You missed Mario 64, Mario Galaxy, Mario Sunshine and Paper Mario, not even counting the various Mario games for the various GameBoys, Mario Kart, Mario Party and the Olympics.You think, there's not many Mario games out the last few years? Think again: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Mario_games_by_year [wikipedia.org]

I don't think it's the number of games - it's the quality of the games. Super Mario Sunshine and Paper Mario were very well done and a lot of fun.

Of course, I still occasionally play Super Mario Brothers 3 on the Wii, so maybe I'm just a sucker for the franchise.

Not to mention the advertising, at least here in Japan. Nintendo had very high profile TV commercials showing the gameplay and the fact that people of all generations enjoyed playing it. And, of course, it was and is plastered all over video game store shelves. 3 million of those 10 million copies were sold in Japan, so they must be doing something right.

Yoshi's Island (Super Mario World 2 I think) was also a great game in the franchise. Different concept, but still a very similar playing style. Plus it kept you coming back to unlock new levels, similar to NSMB DS and Wii. Probably the first game in the series to do that.

I found that with Super Paper Mario at first, but it's worth playing through as it gets much better. The game has some clever mechanics, the puzzles are fun (although not that tricky), and the humour is very good. After Super Mario World this is my second favourite Mario game.

Yoshi's Story and the Wario games didn't really scream "Mario" all that loudly, but even then they were pretty good games. The 3D Marios were perhaps not as good as the 2D Marios but pretty close I think (didn't care for them personally). Paper Mario may not be everyone's favorite but I belive they have a loyal following.

Point being that when Mario is prominently in the title "you know" that it's a good game, even the spin off games such as Dr. Mario and Mario Kart. That's what I find impressive about the M

It's a good seller, but it's not close to being the best-selling game of even this generation of consoles (that would be Mario Kart). Unless it has long legs (which is entirely likely), it's not likely to cross any of the original Mario games other than SMB2, since it still needs another 7mil units to catch up to SMB3.

Which means it has now also outsold MW2 on every platform, including the 360, _individually_ (not all combined.) Just like Reggie bet that it would. [1up.com] He originally said it would beat Modern Warfare 2 on one platform by the end of January. (The person he was interviewing then specified the 360 and Reggie didn't seem to object. Which led to a lot of co

While all the details aren't known, they are working on another Metroid [metroid-database.com]. While part of the development team is Team Ninja, the other part is the same guys who worked on Metroid Fusion, which is the department which descended from the department which made Super Metroid.

I concur with just about everything you've said - I'm glad I'm not the only one that feels that way. Historically, very little story was directly told in the (2D) Metroid Games. What little story there was was shown through the gameplay itself - no text, no talking. There was no need to say "Surpirse! Samus is a woman" or "Surprise! She still has a heart, and saved the young Metroid," or "Surprise! The Metroid came to save her" etc. I'm quite worried the trend will continue as it was in Fusion, with f

The reason that developers stopped making side scrollers wasn't because that 3d games were better. In some cases (sony) they pushed the 3d gaming capabilities of the PSX so hard that if I remember correctly, they forbid the publication of 2d games on it.
The fact is that 2d games are still fun and can still be fun. Just because a particular console has a feature doesn't mean it's needed, and that goes for wii too, with too many games adding motion sensor to it even though it's not necessary. It's good to see some good old arcade action come back full circle.

The PS1 didn't have enough RAM. A lot of the 2D games that looked better on the Saturn than on the PS1 required the Saturn's RAM expansion cartridge. It was less of a problem of the N64 or the DS because of their lightning-fast seek time.

Well, the problem back in the 1990s, when 3-D games started getting popular, was a matter of perception: 3-D games were the new-fangled rage, and anybody who made a plain-old 2-D scroller was thought of as being behind the times and totally uncool. The tacit understanding was that 3-D games where a priori more sophisticated and innovative than any 2-D side-scroller.

I remember this because when "Oddworld: Abe's Oddyssey" came out, some gaming magazines gave it a bad review just because it was a 2-D side-sc

While I agree with you, I should point out that the new Wii Super Mario does use motion sensor; a few actions, like using the propeller hat, require you to shake the controller.

True, but I get the impression that this is because Nintendo planned poorly with the Wiimotes. You basically need a couple extra buttons for SNES-level Mario gameplay. Failing that, they hacked in a few things (like lifting POW blocks) with the motion control.

I don't want the Nintendo controller to look like the double-shoulder button mess that the Playstation input devices have become, but a SNES style 4 buttons would probably have been a good idea. 2 is just a bit limiting.

I think that the more buttons you add, the more you alienate players. For a lot of casual players, more than a couple of buttons is honestly hard to deal with. "I want to pick this up, which button do I press again?"

But shaking is a completely different action. It's not a matter of "which button", but a matter of "what do I do?" People can remember this more easily than remembering yet another button to push.

That's not to say that Nintendo necessarily planned things this way, but they may well have.

You can call it "nostalgia" if you want, but I see my kids and their friends (7-12 years old) as totally hooked on NSMBWii. They absolutely love it above all the other games we have for the Wii and PS3.

It may be nostalgia to those of us who played the earlier versions, but you can't really call it that for this new crop of kids who just think it's an awesome game in its own right.

On the latest Iwata Asks (where the president of Nintendo interviews his staff) there's a lot of interesting info about how Miyamoto came up with the sound effect for the propeller mario, why mario wears overalls, why use a mushroom as a powerup, why turtles as opponents and other interesting info.

It's a really fun game. I'm only in World 7, but I look forward to the rest. My only problem has been when I tried to take it to a relative's house this past weekend. They're in one of the infamous dial-up bubbles all over the country, so they haven't bothered setting up wireless. The disk required a system update before it would play, so we couldn't play it. I scoured the box for a warning, expecting better from Nintendo, but couldn't find it.

I can't help but worry that this will simply encourage developers to skimp on innovation in future games. After all, if you can make an inexpensive game that sells millions to casual gamers, why bother spending time and money to create an innovative new experience?

As a game developer myself, spending time and money is usually the anthesis of innovation. The more the suits invest in a project, the more guaranteed ROI they will want. That means, the more like every other bloody game out there it will need to be.

NSMBWii took a formula that once was popular but now has few games in it, added some really fun new ways of interacting (4 player!), and hit it out of the park. The title probably didn't cost more than 5 million to produce, but it has a ton of gameplay and ca

While I applaud Nintendo for their financial success, I can't help but worry that this will simply encourage developers to skimp on innovation in future games. After all, if you can make an inexpensive game that sells millions to casual gamers, why bother spending time and money to create an innovative new experience?

Still, I must admit 2D Mario has always had great appeal to me. It really is a fun game.

Yeah, now that this has been a success we'll probably see like 6 Calls of Duty, 17 and a half Final Fantasy games, etc.. oh wait.

Wait, are you saying that the game isn't innovative? Coin battle and 4 player co-op are two of the best innovations in the Mario franchise since 1985. Rather than just throwing the best textures and shaders their artists could make on top of the flavor of the month physics engine, Nintendo sat down and figured out how to take the classic side scrolling adventure game and make it fresh and fun again. It's not the most original game to ever hit the market, but it's sure as hell a lot more innovative than s

I have to post my agreement here. I cut my teeth on an Atari 2600, and had a NES when it first hit the shelves in the US. I like playing games like Halo now, but there is a lot to be said about the game play, accessibility and fun of some of the old games. Some of my favorite games are the Metal Slug series. They are simple side scrolling shooters, but the main consideration is that they are a lot of fun.

Well, my family and I have played and completed just about every Mario game imaginable (my parents are mad for it, but virtually no other game at all). We played through the Wii version just the other day and I can't say I noticed any delay in the controls at all. It *would* piss me off because I can't stand things like that (even if a good player learns to compensate for them very quickly) - SuperTux, for instance, annoys me because it's "not the same" as Mario jumps, etc. There's something about the Yo

>> It could do with a rethink of the "player dies if their friend pulls the screen too far" part

They did re-think it: Just press the "A" button and "bubble up" to your companion whenever he or she lands on a safe spot. It took my wife and I a few games before we realized that pattern (we tend to skip the instruction manuals): She would die when left behind, and I would inadvertedly press the "A" button while smashing the D-pad and turn into a bubble at the wrong moments. Fun!

I've used that with my parents a lot - they often "bubble" and then wait for me to do the tricky bits for them. Not really a useful trick on the more difficult areas - all you do is increase the risk that if the non-bubbled person dies then you have to start the level over (possibly from a halfway point). Non-bubbled, you can at least continue with the other player. There's no reason the screen can't zoom out a bit more, or prevent one player running off too far in one of the directions. The game itself

If you are playing with 3 or 4, have one stand somewhere relatively safe while the person attempts it and the other 1/2 are bubbled.

It'd be nice if it automatically bubbled you if you fell behind, but they'd have to leave an exception for being squished against the edge by an obstacle.

And we found it mildly funny when we got to the second part of the final battle and everyone bubbled at the same time to avoid the initial flame breath. Is there any way for everyone to avoid that first breath, when you are a

The physics of moving and jumping were definitely different (slightly) compared to the older games. This really threw me off at first, but I got used to it.

If the delay is really bad, though, you might make sure that your TV isn't trying to do any video processing. I played with one friend who left that on, and it added about 0.5-0.75 seconds lag to each button press.

I'd assume the release dates had to do with meeting the holiday rush in Western countries. In the United States, launching later than the Friday after Thanksgiving (Nov. 27 last year) might have cost them some sales. Obviously, having product for Black Friday is not a concern for European retailers as it is in the US, but Dec. 3 still cuts close for Christmas shopping. In Japan, they could have approached the launch date a bit more leisurely.